Word: tails
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Until 1939, we were a world power, almost THE world power, and it was always good politics to twist the lion's tail. It raised a laugh all the way from Capitol Hill to Cairo and Teheran. We, in England, could never understand the ingratitude of other people whom we had helped (for their own benefit of course-and our profit), but we were rich enough to shrug our shoulders and let the matter pass. Now there is little fun in twisting the poor lion's tail. Instead, a new game has been invented. Uncle...
Star of the Show. The Supermarine 508, a two-jet carrier-borne fighter, seemed just about as fast. Designed by Joe Smith, whose best-known plane is the famous Spitfire fighter of World War II, it has thin straight wings and a "butterfly tail" with two hinged sections at 45° from the vertical which function both as elevators and rudder...
...launching trailer, the Matador looks like an odd crossbreed of a jet plane and a Buck Rogers fantasy. It is long, sleek, round as a cigar, and fitted with a pair of stubby supersonic triangular wings. In its nose, the missile carries a sand-filled dummy warhead. In its tail, the Matador carries a jet engine for endurance and a huge, underslung rocket motor for take-off power. Inside the Matador, every inch of space is crammed with fuel and the humming electronic navigator that guides it to its target...
Shields for Humans. In any case, an airborne reactor will probably not have to be shielded on all sides. Only the crew's compartment and perhaps certain instruments need to be protected. This might be done partly by mere distance, e.g., by placing the reactors in the tail or far out on the wings. Another obvious trick would be to make the airplane's structural parts or equipment (e.g., the retracted wheels) serve as partial shields. Final protection would be a bulkhead of shielding, to provide a safe "radiation shadow" for the crew's space...
...With bare hands (no gloves for this critical job), he flicked four switches in quick sequence. Each switch fired a rocket chamber. They made a curious sound-a "bloof" and a "schplunk," as Bridgeman describes it. A trail of dense white vapor streamed out from the tail. Ten seconds after the drop, Bridgeman was speeding faster than sound. He did not even feel this "passing through the fence...